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The acquisition supports Smith & Nephew’s strategy to invest in best in class technologies that further its multi-asset digital surgery and robotic ecosystem. The acquisition and strategic collaboration allow both companies to accelerate research and development in the areas of digital surgery and augmented reality.

The Brainlab orthopaedic joint reconstruction business provides surgeons with digital workflow tools, from pre-operative planning to intraoperative navigation to postoperative evaluation and sharing. Used in over 40,000 orthopaedic cases1 each year at more than 500 accounts worldwide, the technology helps maximise precision and reproducibility and achieve desired outcomes for patients and surgeons. The transaction also includes certain intangible assets as well as the orthopaedic Brainlab salesforce, which will be integrated into the Smith & Nephew robotics commercial organisation, supporting the acceleration of this business.

Smith & Nephew and Brainlab will collaborate in developing applications in orthopaedic reconstruction and sports medicine, with opportunities to expand into other surgical specialties thereafter. The partnership offers Smith & Nephew access to a broad range of Brainlab technologies in cloud computing, tracking, augmented reality, robotics, AI, machine learning, image fusion, and anatomical segmentation. The combined competencies will result in a powerful digital ecosystem from which ground-breaking clinical solutions can emerge, bolstering Smith & Nephew’s technology base for robotics. Brainlab will benefit from deploying its digital surgery products to the ambulatory surgery market through the broad Smith & Nephew distribution network. By working together, the companies will provide an exciting upgrade path with more capabilities for both Brainlab and Smith & Nephew customers.

“Computer-assisted surgery is the foundation of any powerful robotic solution and sophisticated software will drive superior robotic applications,” said Stefan Vilsmeier, President and CEO, Brainlab. “I’m excited about co-inventing the future of digital surgery with our new partner, and expanding the reach of our technology to ambulatory surgery centers and their patients.”

“This partnership with Brainlab is a critical driver of our digital surgery and robotic ecosystem,” said Namal Nawana, CEO of Smith & Nephew. “Together we will drive the development and adoption of digital technologies to dramatically improve efficiency and outcomes in the OR.”

Privately held since its formation in Munich, Germany in 1989, Brainlab has more than 12,850 systems installed in over 100 countries. Brainlab employs almost 1,400 people in 18 offices worldwide, including more than 420 Research & Development engineers, who form a crucial part of the product development team.

About Smith & Nephew

Smith & Nephew is a portfolio medical technology business with leadership positions in Orthopaedics, Advanced Wound Management and Sports Medicine. Smith & Nephew has more than 16,000 employees and a presence in more than 100 countries. Annual sales in 2018 were $4.9 billion. Smith & Nephew is a member of the FTSE100 (LSE:SN, NYSE:SNN). For more information about Smith & Nephew, please visit our corporate website www.smith-nephew.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

Forward-looking Statements

This document may contain forward-looking statements that may or may not prove accurate. For example, statements regarding expected revenue growth and trading margins, market trends and our product pipeline are forward-looking statements. Phrases such as "aim", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "well-placed", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target", "consider" and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied by the statements. For Smith & Nephew, these factors include: economic and financial conditions in the markets we serve, especially those affecting health care providers, payers and customers; price levels for established and innovative medical devices; developments in medical technology; regulatory approvals, reimbursement decisions or other government actions; product defects or recalls or other problems with quality management systems or failure to comply with related regulations; litigation relating to patent or other claims; legal compliance risks and related investigative, remedial or enforcement actions; disruption to our supply chain or operations or those of our suppliers; competition for qualified personnel; strategic actions, including acquisitions and dispositions, our success in performing due diligence, valuing and integrating acquired businesses; disruption that may result from transactions or other changes we make in our business plans or organisation to adapt to market developments; and numerous other matters that affect us or our markets, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or reputational nature. Please refer to the documents that Smith & Nephew has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including Smith & Nephew's most recent annual report on Form 20-F, for a discussion of certain of these factors. Any forward-looking statement is based on information available to Smith & Nephew as of the date of the statement. All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to Smith & Nephew are qualified by this caution. Smith & Nephew does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in circumstances or in Smith & Nephew's expectations.